


quantum entanglement

by brightbolt



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, F/F, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Post-TLJ with some adjustments, Slow Burn, but instead of friends its like. soulmates, like frodo and sam type of 'friends' to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24009271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightbolt/pseuds/brightbolt
Summary: An intercepted transmission leads the Resistance to Sullust, an old Imperial weapons testing planet. Then, all hell breaks loose.or: neither particle of the pair can be described independently of the state of the other, even when the two are separated by a long distance.
Relationships: Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron & Rey, Poe Dameron & Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Rose Tico
Comments: 9
Kudos: 17





	1. the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> i've been working on this fic since december, and i'm so happy to finally be able to share the first chapter! settle in, folks - it's going to be kind of a long ride. i don't know much about the update schedule (especially considering there was a five month gap between starting this fic and posting this first chapter), but i want to see this one through. i've been inspired, my friends. 
> 
> i put a lot of work into this, and i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i've enjoyed writing it! kudos and comments are very appreciated. talk to me on tumblr @brightbolts!
> 
> and finally, a very special thanks to mia and kai for sticking with me and beta'ing this fic! i wouldn't be here without your help.

Around him, the constant buzz of chatter in the Command Room seemed almost deafening. Three commanders were engaged in a low conversation full of dark looks and serious, wary flickers of eyes to his left, and to his right a group of pilots were nervously speculating on the nature of the meeting. 

That’s it, Poe thought. He realized dimly that underneath it all, underneath the noise and the awkward laughter and the speedy movement of eyes from person to person and place to place, there ran a thick undercurrent of nervous energy. 

Poe, having been part of the Resistance for years before today (and, stars and luck willing, sticking around for a long time yet), didn’t think of it as anything new. All that had been relayed over the PA system was that it was a mandatory meeting for all upper-level personnel and that it was happening in exactly ten minutes. A little odd, maybe. But nothing out of the ordinary. 

Still, he couldn’t help the uneasy feeling the crackle of the intercom always gave him. Poe could never quite rid himself (especially after his time on Jakku and the _Finalizer_ ) of the way his blood ran cold on hearing it. It was rarely a sign of good.

It was ingrained in him the same way it had become ingrained in everyone else -- the whine of feedback sounding a nanosecond before the General’s voice filtered in, tinged with a hint of static the technicians had one by one deemed unfixable; the inevitable pause between the end of her voice and the click of the intercom turning off; and the moment of pure, uninterrupted silence that always followed after it before people went back to their business. It did the worst thing imaginable to a pilot -- it grounded him. Not a peaceful, purposeful grounding, either. It felt like it grabbed him by the legs and dragged him back down to the surface of D’Qar. 

By the time he got to the Command Room (he left almost immediately after hearing the broadcast) and claimed his seat at the table, the wire of nervousness running hot through the room had already made itself known. Poe made idle conversation when it was required of him, talking shop with a mechanic about the repairs his X-wing had needed after his most recent supply run (it had taken him through the Outer Rim, which had a lot more asteroids than he had originally thought) and offering a few comments on a story Jess Pava was telling next to him, but kept mostly to himself, tapping a quiet, steady beat on the table and letting his thoughts wander to safe, non-nervous topics and trying to ignore them when they didn’t.

He jolted back into the present when he saw -- _felt_ \-- a warm, familiar presence walk through the door. Finn was running late, having been working all day on a training exercise Rey had taught him to help channel the Force more efficiently. To Poe’s knowledge, it involved four rocks, moving water, and a one-armed handstand. 

Finn grinned as he sat down next to him, the expression lighting up his face. “I’m not late, right?” He looked around, mentally clocking who was in the room. “I figured I had a few extra minutes before the meeting would actually start.” 

Technically, Finn wasn’t a titled officer. Where Poe was, officially, _Commander Poe Dameron_ , Finn had nothing to speak of. 

(Not even a last name. Poe tried to ignore the pang in his chest when he thought about what could be, the way he knew that if Finn asked him, he would give his name as freely as he had given his jacket all those years ago.) 

But over the course of the last few years, Finn had become an absolutely integral part of Resistance operations. The original suspicion from some of the more wary members had been wiped away first by Starkiller, then by Crait, then by mission after mission in quick succession. Finn had proven himself time and time again in both intention and information, and as far as Poe (and, he suspected, the General) was concerned, Finn was just as much of a senior officer -- and a part of the Resistance -- as the rest of them.

Shaking his thoughts away, Poe smiled in return. “Nah. You know how these meetings are. She always gives a few minutes of padding between when we’re supposed to start and when we do.” He caught the scent of flowers clinging to Finn’s -- _Poe’s_ , really, but Finn’s-- jacket. “Been out in the forest?”

“All day. According to Rey, Master Skywalker thought--” And as much as Poe would have liked to hear it, whatever Finn was going to say was interrupted by the sound of a room full of Resistance officers snapping to attention. 

As she walked in, General Leia Organa glanced at the room around her before focusing on the monitor behind her, setting it to the screen she wanted. “Really, everyone, it’s not necessary. At ease.” As the room relaxed (if only slightly), she began to speak. 

“Recently, we intercepted a First Order transmission aimed at a base on a planet in the Outer Rim. The transmission was, naturally, heavily encrypted, but last night, our codebreakers were able to crack it.” Here, she paused, exhaling sharply before looking back up at everyone. “The First Order is developing some kind of weapon. We don’t know what it is-- and, from the sound of the transmission, they’re keeping it vague. All we have to go on is that it’s based on an old Imperial design that never ended up being developed.”

She pointed a small remote at the projector in front of her, and the image of a large planet mottled with reds and blacks appeared. “This,” she said, looking around the room with a sweeping gaze, “is Sullust. There’s an old Imperial base somewhere on its surface. According to Imperial records and First Order intel, it served as one of their main weapons testing facilities, and isn’t likely to have been disturbed since its fall.” Her gaze fell, as it so often did, on Poe, and he made up his mind in the split second they made contact. “If we’re going to find anything, that’s the first place we should look.”

General Organa cleared her throat. “Now, that said, we still don’t know for sure that there will be anything there, so this mission will be purely reconnaissance. Obviously, we don’t want to put a strain on our resources, so--” 

“I’ll do it.” For a moment, Poe didn’t realize he had spoken. The stares of thirty-odd people on him clued him in. He felt a hand rest gently on his arm and met Finn’s eyes, big and warm and impossibly concerned. His eyebrows raised slightly, making a statement, and Poe knew instantly that he wouldn’t be going alone. Inwardly, he cursed. He was going to volunteer no matter what, of course. Nothing in the galaxy could stop him from acting when the situation called for it. So he straightened his back, raised his chin, and leveled his gaze at General Organa, as if daring her to deny him. 

Leia, for her part, had grown used to this, and knew as well as he did that he would volunteer. Every time, she was struck suddenly by how much of his mother he had in him -- the desperate need to act, to feel the starship around her, to know deeply and truly that she was _doing_ something -- and every time, she felt a tightness in her chest growing, aching for him and his safety. She felt it like a blaster shot when she heard the news about Shara (“It was the strangest thing,” Kes had told her, “one day here, and the next somewhere out there,” smiling sadly and looking up when she asked what he meant), and from then on couldn’t bring herself to look at Poe in any other way than as family. 

So as Poe leveled his gaze at her, a defiance she had become well-accustomed to within it, she felt the tightness in her chest growing once again. “Commander Dameron, your experience in these missions and as a pilot is unparalleled, and I can think of no one better to conduct it with the speed and precision required.” If there was a twinge of exasperation in her voice, no one commented on it. “But I don’t want you going alone.” Her eyes flicked to Finn and back. “Assemble a crew and meet back here in an hour. I want you fully packed and ready by the time we speak again. See to it that the maintenance on the _Falcon_ is complete.” At the renewed spark in Poe’s eyes and the ghost of a smile on his face, she nodded twice. “Thank you, everyone. Dismissed.”

The room began to vacate, the same buzz of chatter from earlier filling the spaces left by those who had already left, and he felt someone rest a gentle hand on his shoulder. When he turned to look, he saw the concern, mixed with a fair amount of resolve, written plain across Finn’s face. 

Finn had never been good at concealing his emotions, and what he was feeling was always clear across his face. Growing up under military parents and going through the system himself, Poe had become accustomed to commanders (and, hell, even peers) putting on a steel mask at the first hint of bad news. Finn was nothing like that -- he cried when he felt the urge to, his voice rose and fell with his emotions, and he could never meet someone’s eyes if he was lying to them -- but the most incredible part of it all was that he had no desire to do anything different. He was, in a phrase, hopelessly earnest. 

Yet Poe knew Finn had been through unspeakable things to get where he was. He had survived the First Order, a fascist organization focused on death, destruction, and subjugation, and left it a good, kind man who wanted to make things _better_. It was one (out of many) of the things that had made Poe fall in--

“--Poe? Did you hear me?” Finn was frowning at him now, concern growing by the second. 

Poe refocused. “I zoned out for half a second. What did you say?”

“I said, you know I’m going with you, right?” Again, that impossibly earnest look. It made Poe feel like he had been laid bare, like Finn could see all the way down into the deepest parts of his soul. It was terrifying, in a way. No one had ever done that before.

But the question made him smile. “Who else would I want in my crew? You know that ship better than any of the rest of us, buddy. You were my first pick.” 

“Just making sure.” Finn smiled, then chuckled. “If we’re both going, you know Rey will want to come too.” 

In spite of himself, Poe smiled. He and Rey, though they hadn’t known each other for long, had quickly taken to each other, forming a bond so close (and so full of bickering) that Poe didn’t think it could be broken by any force, natural or otherwise. Although he would never tell her, there were times he thought that if he had ever had a sister, he would have wanted it to be her. 

But it hurt, sometimes, to be around the two of them. Finn and Rey loved each other with a power Poe didn’t think he could match. He tried to ignore how much it hurt him when they looked at each other, communicating beyond words. He tried to fight back against the way it hit him how far outside, how far _removed_ he was from whatever they had.

If his smile took on a slight strain for a second, neither noticed. “You’re absolutely right. Go find her, bud. We’ll need someone else, too, though. Someone who--” 

“--knows how to find what we’re looking for,” Finn finished. He thought for a moment. They needed a pilot (Poe and Rey), a gunner (Finn), and someone with a considerable amount of mechanical expertise and skill with the systems they’d be working with (or at least the adaptability to learn them). The answer came to him almost immediately. “Oh, duh. Rose.”

Poe, who had turned away to think, whipped back to look at Finn, nodding in agreement. “Perfect. Yeah, that’s perfect - the rest of us wouldn’t have a clue how to find what we’re looking for with those systems. Genius.” Poe gave a thumbs-up, though they both saw it was half-hearted. “Alright, so you find Rey, and I’ll find Rose. Meet back here in--” He checked the clock in the room, “--45 minutes. Good?” 

“Good.” With a bright smile, Finn thumped him on the shoulder (gently, though, always gently) and jogged out of the room. Almost as soon as he was gone, Poe sagged against the chair he still sat in. 

Here’s the thing. Poe didn’t do… whatever this was. He never had the time, he rarely had the energy, and the Resistance offered slim pickings. He had grown to accept the fact that he probably wouldn’t have a family of his own after the war, or, at the very least, that it would be a long, long time before he found someone to have it with. It was something he had struggled with at first, but he had learned to be content with casual hookups on undercover missions and a general principle of no-strings-attached. 

Then came Finn. 

As if the universe had read his mind (not what he tried to convince himself, of course), he had stumbled across the kindest, most noble man in the galaxy. Stars, he thought, what else was he supposed to do?

Poe didn’t remember much of his mother -- flashes here and there of a dark-haired woman with a warm smile and a deep voice who seemed to heal every wound with a kiss -- but he knew about love. His father, he knew, had loved Shara Bey deeply and for a long time. It showed in the way he spoke about her -- not as if she was gone or someone to be mourned, but as if she would be back any second. He joked about her, told stories about their time together both during and after the war, and helped Poe understand the kind of person she was. Poe never felt like she was missing from his life. How could he, when she was so ingrained in every part of it? So, yes. Poe knew love. 

He didn’t know when he started to fall in love with Finn. Maybe it was that first time seeing him on a Resistance base, wearing a jacket he took from the wreckage of a TIE fighter. Maybe it was the first, or second, or eighth night they spent together, sleepily talking about the places they’d been and the people they’d met. Or maybe it was the moment he felt a Stormtrooper yank him into a hallway and take off that shiny white helmet. All Poe knew was that it had happened, and it happened _fast_. 

But as much as he tried to imagine a world where everything was good and kind, a world where he was _happy_ , he kept coming back to the _Finalizer_ , to a gloved black hand and an invasion of his mind. There was something… _new_ in him, a low, insistent rumble beneath the surface, that hadn’t existed before. 

Sometimes, on bad nights, where Finn wasn’t there to lull him to sleep with the gentle melody of quiet snores and he felt his fears and regrets laid bare before him, Poe worried that one day it would consume him, slowly spreading out and up and burning through him until there wasn’t anything left.

The Command Room was long-empty now, which meant there was no one around to see him. That was good. Before every mission, Poe tried to quiet things down. Snap told him years ago it would help him get in the right mindset and, unfortunately, he was right. Even if it was just a few minutes, it made all the difference. 

(He chose to ignore the fact that he hadn’t been able to do it right since before Jakku. He still tried before every mission, trying to convince himself it was the thought, the _effort_ , that counted.)

Poe sat in the chair, planting his feet firmly on the ground and laying his hands flat on the table in front of him before closing his eyes and letting his mind wander. He focused on the way his feet felt pressing into the hard cement floor, on how his left foot felt slightly heavier than the right. He flexed and unflexed his calves, adding a purpose to each movement. Then, he saw it.

_A starless sky above him, so wide and vast he felt like he was falling into it, stretched out for what felt like years; a dark, menacing laugh from behind a helmet; Finn, lying, lifeless, with blood staining him and blankness behind open eyes--_

Poe shook his head once, twice, trying to focus on the feeling of his lower back pressing against the chair supporting him. On the table, the back of his hands flexed, fingertips digging into the metal. 

_The heat of the TIE fighter just before it exploded; the sinking pit in his stomach that dropped lower by the second at the sight of the flames; the terror and horror and failure he felt when he looked up and saw that Finn wasn’t_ there _\--_

He felt sweat beading up on the back of his neck, cold and clammy. Dstantly, Poe was aware of pain in his fingers, sharp and stabbing. His ears rang, and the hair on his arms stood up suddenly. 

_The way Ren’s hand twisted as he dug, mining information out of Poe’s head, shoving memories aside left and right until he found what he was looking for; the cold bite of the cuffs against his wrists and the marks they left afterward; blank, white helmets staring at him from the back of the room without stepping in as if they_ enjoyed _watching it, the bastards--_

Poe stood up suddenly, sending his chair back to the wall, metal legs screeching along the cement floor as it did. His breathing, now ragged, was deafening in the empty room. His eyes bounced around the room as if searching for a threat. And, stars, the _anger_.

He felt it boiling in him, starting coiled in a tight ball under his ribs and pulsing outward in all directions; it pricked at the corners of his eyes until he could feel the tears rolling down them, it filled his limbs and extended all the way to his fingertips, and it _always_ piled up there as if it was desperate to escape. He could almost _hear_ Ren’s voice through that _stupid, stupid helmet_ , and he swore to whoever was listening that if he was there right now with a blaster, he would--

“Poe? Are you okay?” A voice, wary and cautious, floated in from the doorway. He closed his eyes, trying desperately to stabilize his breathing, and wiped the tears from his eyes. 

Clearing his throat, he turned around to face where Rey was standing and tried to stop his voice from wavering. “Rey, hi, um,” He swallowed. “Finn was just going to look for you, did he--” 

If he had been looking at her instead of a spot on the wall where the paint was peeling, he would have seen the expression on Rey’s face. She had always been better about hiding her true feelings (claiming, when asked, that it was a habit gained from learning to barter, though Poe always suspected there was more pain in her past than she let on), and to an onlooker, it would have seemed a look of confusion. 

She had always been good at hiding her true feelings, yes -- but her voice, every time, gave her away. Her words were chosen more carefully now, coming out more gently and more softly than her usual tone. “Yes, he found me. Gave me a quick brief on what was going on.” 

Poe nodded. “Good, that’s-- good. And-and he told you to be ready in, what, half an hour?” Between them, something unspoken ran. 

“He did,” The corner of her mouth lifted in a small, lopsided grin. “Between the two of us, just about everything I own is already on the ship.”

That sent a pang through his chest. Finn, at least, bunked with him most nights. The first night, he had padded quietly across the hall from where his own room -- an officer’s room, if one on the smaller end -- sat to knock on Poe’s door. He had looked so lost -- he told Poe softly, after nearly thirty minutes of lying sleepless beside each other, that he had roomed with others for his entire life. It was the quiet that scared him. So, of course, Poe obliged, moving Finn’s bed into his own. 

(If Finn ended up curled in his bed most nights anyway, no one would know.)

Rey, though, was different, and had spent her entire _life_ sleeping alone. She had her own room, naturally, but it was clear to her from the beginning, taking cues from its sparseness, the stiffness of the sheets, and the emptiness within it, that she wouldn’t ever really call it home. 

She had taken recently, with the amount of missions they started to make on a monthly basis, to sleeping on the ship. She said it wasn’t bad, _really, Poe, I used to sleep in an AT-AT, for kriff’s sake_ , but it didn’t sit right with him. 

Still, he nodded again. “Right. Right, yeah.” Not knowing what else to do, he scratched the back of his neck. 

“So, um, Rey--”

“Poe, are you--”

They blinked. Rey recovered faster. “Please, you first.”

“Oh, um, I was just going to say that I should go talk to Rose about coming with us.”

“Good call. We need someone who’s more familiar with the tech.”

“Yep,” He said, popping the _p_. A brief silence lingered. “So, what were you going to say?”

Her brow creased, a skinny wrinkle in the center of her forehead deepening for a moment. “Poe, you don’t seem... I-I don’t want to pry, but--” Rey stopped herself short, eyes squeezing shut for a moment before flying open. “I’m just a little worried about you. That’s all.” The curt nod at the end gave it the feeling of an order rather than a declaration of concern, but he took it for what it meant.

A humorless chuckle escaped him. “Am I that obvious?”

“Just-- this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen to you, and I--” 

“Rey, really, I appreciate the concern, but I’m _fine_.”

Her frown deepened, making way for concern alongside it, and she seemed to be battling with herself. Something won out a second later, and her frown smoothed, leaving a faint imprint of worry on her face. “If you say so.” She glanced up at the clock. “Right, I’ll leave you to it.” Another shift, this time from worry to action. “I can go fill Rose in on what’s going on, alright? You get packed.”

Poe nodded soundlessly, trying to push past the lump in his throat. It only half worked, and the words came out more hoarse than he had hoped. “Alright, yeah.” 

She nodded once, looking him up and down again for good measure, and turned to leave. 

“Rey?” When she turned, he was quiet for a moment, almost lost in everything he left unsaid.

 _I can’t sleep without remembering it all. I keep hearing his voice, seeing his face,_ feeling _him in my head. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same again. I can’t relax without remembering the way the cuffs on the_ Finalizer _left marks and bruises on my wrists. I can barely sleep at night. They took so much from me. I’m scared of dying now, and I’ve never been scared about that before. It just makes me so_ angry, _Rey_ , _I--_

“Thanks. Y’know, for, um… for stopping by.” He nodded, nose sniffling almost unconsciously. Vulnerability _really_ wasn’t his thing, especially lately, but he figured he had earned a little.

Rey smiled a genuine smile, the one he only saw in rare moments. “Of course, Poe. Go pack.” The words, though stern, landed softly as she left the room, leaving him alone with anger that had long since fizzled out. 

Walking down the halls, Rey still felt like an outsider. She almost felt guilty about it -- most of the people she knew, herself included, had tried so _hard_ to make it feel like a home, but every time she went back to her bunk, it felt like the walls were closing in on her. The first few nights, she had just collapsed in the bed from exhaustion. After that, though, after she started to regain strength and stability, Rey realized that she couldn’t sleep in the bed.

She spent days -- nights, really -- lying in bed, eyes firmly shut rather than bear witness to the darkness, trying to figure out why it was. It wasn’t until Finn had come to her during their morning mealtime bearing a similar strain of dark undereye circles that she had realized it. It was a comment he had made offhand, following a mumbled discussion about roommates, that she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. 

“Bed’s too damn soft, anyway. Too big, too,” he had said, taking another sip of caf. “For me, ‘s like I get lost in it, you know?”

Rey had only nodded idly at the time, too tired to respond with any real integrity, but would turn the concept over in her head for weeks. And it was true -- on Jakku, she had slept in the remains of a command chair and a rolled up, ragged blanket she had traded some parts for. It probably wasn’t good for her back, sure, but it was all she had ever known. 

So one night, lying in bed like always, she thought about the last time she had been able to sleep in a real bed. It took a while, but it came to her eventually -- she remembered, on the way to Ahch-To, the first time, she and Chewie had been waiting to leave hyperspace and he had suggested (as gently as a Wookie can) that she get some rest. So she’d stumbled her way to one of the cabins on board and collapsed onto the bottom bunk. There had been a spring digging into her hips the whole night, the blanket was threadbare, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if the pillow was just folded up cardboard in a pillowcase. It had been the best sleep she’d gotten in months. 

The next night, she didn’t bother going to the room. She snuck past the late-night repair crew, past BB8’s confused beeps, and up the ramp directly into the cabin and finally, _finally_ slept. Realistically, Rey knew that there was probably a deeper issue than just comfort, but it wasn’t the right time to deal with it. 

(Then again, if it turned out there was never a right time, she figured she’d be okay with that.

She thought about what that life would look like sometimes: she imagined living on the _Falcon_ , traveling a free galaxy without destination or itinerary, living based on feeling and emotion rather than out of necessity. She imagined endless oceans, glaciers taller than she would have to crane her neck back to look at, and lush green forests that seemed to swallow her whole.

It was an imperfect arrangement and a far-off dream, of course, and Rey knew it wouldn’t last forever. But, she thought, turning down the winding, too-uniform corridors into one of the main hangars, it would work this night and the next. In the end, did it matter any more than that?)

Rey shook her head minutely, trying to corral her thoughts away from their scattered state, and began to look for Rose. The hangar doors were closed now, giving those working inside a brief respite from the heat and humidity, so the light cast on the dormant X-wings and starfighters bore the distinctly unnatural tone Rey had come to realize came from fluorescent bulbs.

The vague sounds of a conversation floated by her. The words, though she couldn’t make them out, sounded heated, and were coming from the left wing of the hangar.

As she walked in that direction, Rey saw, across the hangar floor, Rose was exchanging heated words with a mechanic so red-faced Rey worried for a moment steam would come out of their ears. Half-hidden under a staircase in partial shadow, she could hear their conversation clearly. 

“--for the last time, that drive isn’t _busted_ , Doren! I replaced it, like _two days ago--_ ”

“Well, I don’t know what you _did, Tico_ , but the power isn’t _connecting--”_

“You know what? Watch. No, _asshole_ , just _watch_ ,” Rose seethed, climbing up the ladder on the side of the A-wing they were standing near. Rey watched from a few feet away, as she fiddled with a few switches in the cockpit, face lighting up in a grin when the engine hummed to life. Rey smiled almost unconsciously at the sight. 

Doren rolled all seven of their eyes. “Whatever, Tico. As long as it doesn’t disconnect mid-flight, it doesn’t matter anyway,” They grumbled. “I’m taking my break. And _don’t_ \--” They brandished a long, clawed finger, “--send Bollie after me this time. I know damn well when I’m done.”

Rose, who was in the process of climbing back down the ladder, waved a hand dismissively, and Doren stormed off. She was all the way down before a familiar voice rang out from the shadows. 

“I gotta give you credit, you were a _lot_ nicer than I’d’ve been,” Rey grinned, stepping out from under the stairs.

Rose started at the sudden noise, swearing under her breath and jolting a little where she stood before relaxing at the sight of Rey on the hangar floor. When the words finally registered, she cringed. “You saw that, huh?” She looked in the direction Doren had gone, a ghost of a smile on her face. “I won’t lie. It feels good to be right about something, but it feels _extra_ good to be right about something when Doren _isn’t_.” 

Rey chuckled at that, and Rose allowed herself a real smile. “Anyway, what brings you to this part of the base? If it’s the _Falcon_ repairs, we finished a few hours ago, and it should be in--”

“No, no. The _Falcon_ ’s fine,” Rey interrupted. There was an awkward silence, and she felt her face begin to redden. “It’s a-a mission, actually. There’s information we need on an old Imperial base on Sullust, and we figured you could help access it.” 

Rose blinked once, then twice. “Oh. Oh! Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, um… Yeah. I can do that.” She threw a haphazard glance around the area before her eyes landed on a small duffel bag. Slinging the strap over her shoulder and grabbing a few tools strewn about the workspace, she stood in front of Rey. “When do we leave?”

A grin, surprised and more than a little amazed, spread across Rey’s face. “First of all, that was, like, really impressive,” She said, and-- was that a _blush_ that crept up the sides of Rose’s neck? “I was _just_ about to ask you to pack up your stuff and-- anyway, um, General Organa said we were leaving in an hour, but that was a while ago. We should find the others.” 

Rose nodded in return, smiling briefly, and the two fell into a comfortable silence as they walked. Truth be told, when they had first met, Rose hadn’t quite known what to make of Rey. Growing up, stories of the Jedi were spoken in whispers around fire pits, between her and her sister Paige--

 _Paige_. She always felt guilty when she thought of her sister, which she hated, because the only way to honor her memory was to think of her. Rose knew, logically, that nothing that happened was her fault. She knew that there was no way she could have stopped it, that there was no way she could have intervened or predicted it in advance. But every morning, when she woke up and the first thing on her mind was the sister that should have been with her to see the sun rise -- just like they used to back on Hays Minor, with a cup of shitty caf and a few moments of peace to keep them sane for the rest of the day -- Rose couldn’t help the stabbing pain of guilt and grief she felt. 

Grief, she found, was not what she had expected it to be. All the stories, all the holodramas she had grown up with showed rage, explosive and volatile, and sadness so consuming it was all the characters could do not to lose themselves to it. That, she supposed, had its place. The main issue was that she had never seen what came after. It had been bad enough losing her parents to the First Order -- she still thought about the way her mother had held back the tears in her eyes as she begged her to find the Resistance -- but even through that, she had found solace in talking with Paige about them, about Hays Minor, about everything. 

Rage and depression had come and gone, but what they left behind was weight, Rose realized. She had made her peace (as much as she could) with what happened, but she bore the weight of remembering them, of thinking about them, and of keeping them alive in her own way. 

(One night, after a few too many cups of the Corellian whiskey Poe had bought the last time he went on a supply run, Rose had been talking to him, Rey, and Finn about Paige. She told them a lot about her: the way she rolled her eyes when Rose proved her wrong, how she talked with her hands, and how her favorite holodramas were always the dramatic romantic ones with a plot like a tangled ball of yarn. She had worried at first that it was too much information. “Rose, of course not,” Finn had told her, slurring his gentle words only slightly. “She sounds amazing. Tell us more.”

And she had. 

Years and years of stored information, months of bottling it all up inside her as if to ensure it never left, spilled freely from her. She remembered suddenly the videos her parents had taken of them as kids (a tradition they had kept up later) and talked about those too. “I watch ‘em sometimes, y’know,” Rose had told them, smiling. “But, stars, I-- every time I hear her voice, it's like a knife to the heart.” The other three, who had been nodding along and listening actively, even participating when the moment called for it, fell silent. Rose was still smiling, but there was a twinge of something else behind it. “And-and of _course_ it feels amazing in the moment, y’know, because, like, I’m _seeing_ her again, but for _days_ after it’s all I can think about.” 

She tried to ignore how worry clouded the glances the other three exchanged. After all, what she had said was true. It was hard to convey, but true. Maybe that’s what scared them.)

The hardest things about losing them were never what Rose expected: hearing a song that her parents had a recording of Paige, barely older than 4, belting out during a holiday; smelling the perfume her mother wore in passing on the base; and catching herself using one of her father’s oldest sayings (Poe had been blocking a pathway and she had pulled him aside, chiding him with an “awareness, Dameron!” as she let a few rookie pilots pass through) had all made her tear up on the spot. 

It was funny, Rose thought somewhat darkly, that she still didn’t know what she was doing. It was so unlike her -- having been an engineer for so long, her approach to life was one full of solving just about every problem presented to her. But grief was... something else, something she didn’t know how to just _solve_.

(She often wondered if she ever would.)

Rose was jolted back into reality by Finn, who had been ambling down the hallway in their direction. At the sight of them, his face lit up in a grin. “Hey, there you are! I’ve been looking all over!”

The corners of Rey’s mouth curved up in a lopsided grin. “How sweet of you,” She said. “Terrible news, then, that we found each other first.” The grin hardened into something sterner as she looked him up and down. “Are you and Poe all packed? I know Leia- _the General_ said an hour, but I’d like to be there early.”

He nodded. “I just finished. I haven’t seen Poe since the briefing, but, I-I mean, he’s done this a lot more times than we have.” Finn shrugged. “I’ll find him.”

Rey nodded once, chin jerking sharply. “Right. I’ll talk to the mess about extra caf rations for Poe. Pilots need to be alert in the mornings. Plus, he’s meaner without the second cup,” She added, turning to Rose as her eyebrows raised. “If there’s anything else you need for this trip, now is the time to get it.” 

Rose flashed a quick, tight-lipped smile, as a shakiness began to stir in the pit of her stomach. “Maybe a few sleeping tabs from the convoy. I’ll be ready in time, though,” She added, looking at the stress becoming increasingly clear in Rey’s face.

“See you on board?” At Rose’s nod, Rey set off at a brisk pace. She turned to watch her leave, seeing Finn do the same out of the corner of her eye. 

As the two watched her go, Rose turned to Finn. “Hey,” She said. “This is going to be okay, right? Nothing is going to go horribly wrong?” 

“I think so,” Finn said. “It’s just a recon mission. If there’s any sign of the First Order, we bounce. But between the two of us,” He said, leaning in conspiratorially, “I really don’t think there will be. I mean, logically, they have no reason to station troops that far in the Outer Rim, and the majority of their forces are occupied with that uprising in Bothan Space. My guess is that the most they could have -- or _can,_ really -- send is a shuttle.” He put a hand on her shoulder, and she felt the warmth seep into her, as if filling her with sunlight itself. “I know what they’ve taken from you. Hell, they’ve probably taken the same from me--”

“And if we _do_ run into that shuttle?” Rose asked, steel underlying the waver in her voice. “Do we-- what, bounce?”

“Hell, no. We fight.” Finn nodded, stern and serious. “Can you live with that?” 

“I think so,” Rose said. “I’ve lived with worse.”

“Then go get those tabs you wanted.” The ghost of a smile played at his lips. “I’ll see you in ten.”

Almost as if it was pulled out of her, Rose smiled. “See you in ten.”

Ten, thanks to an uncharacteristically long line and a communication barrier, turned into fifteen, and by the time she made it to the _Falcon_ , Rey was standing outside tapping her foot, arms crossed. The moment her eyes landed on Rose, she could _feel_ the relief (and, she noted, a fair amount of exasperation) coming off of her.

“There you are!” Rey said, a tension in her voice that was becoming increasingly familiar. Right before missions, Rey always got nervous. During and after them, she was fine. She said it was something about the feeling of _going_ that made her feel odd -- after she was in motion, it was the easiest thing in the world. “I was worried you wouldn’t make it. What took you so long?”

Rose fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Rey, I was five minutes late.” 

Poe emerged from somewhere underneath and behind the _Falcon_ \-- probably double-checking on the repairs she did, Rose realized with a spike of annoyance -- and dusted his hands together before crossing them over his chest and leaning against the ship. “Don’t take it personally, Tico. You know how she gets,” He said, flashing a small smile at the glare Rey shot him. “Tell you what, though, these repairs look _beautiful_. Did you do those yourself?”

Annoyance was replaced with the warmth of pride, and Rose allowed herself a smile. “I did, in fact. I also tried to fix the sensitivity on the gunner controls, but I’m pretty sure that wiring has been fried for thirty years now.”

That got a chuckle from Poe. “Gotta be forty at _minimum_ ,” He said, giving the _Falcon_ a loving pat. “Probably for the best, though. If those controls actually _worked_ , Finn would have to relearn them, and we’d be down a gunner for--” 

“I _know_ you’re not implying I’d be a worse gunner if those controls were fixed,” Finn said, head poking out from the top of the ramp. “You’re just mad because you can’t work them.” He smiled with just a hint of smugness.

Poe grinned good-naturedly at the sight of him. “Guilty as charged. Still, you have to admit it’d take some adjustment.”

“Just be glad that out of every single stormtrooper, your ass was lucky enough to get the only one that could shoot.”

“That’s not funny,” Poe said, trying not to laugh.

Rey rolled her eyes, but there was no bite to it. “Ha, ha. Are we packed on the ship, Finn?” 

He turned to look at her. “Oh, yeah. I talked to the quartermaster, so we have a few spare blasters to work with in case we run into trouble. Not that we will,” He said quickly, trying to ease the momentary flash of solemnity he had seen on everyone’s faces, “Because chances are we won’t.” He turned to Rey. “Hey, were you able to get those--” 

“--Extra caf rations? Yes. I put them on board a few minutes ago.”

Poe rolled his eyes. “You guys are so mean. I don’t _need_ the extra cup, it just--” He cut off abruptly, an easy grin turning to a focused stare on his face as he stood upright.

Beside her, Rose felt Rey stiffen, back straightening as she turned around. When Rose followed suit, she saw General Organa waiting, hands hanging at her sides. She wasn’t flanked by her usual entourage, and her normal rigidity seemed to lean more towards fluid. 

Frowning at their formality, Leia waved a hand and said, “Have I not known you for long enough? Stand easy,” She said, and watched as the three of them relaxed, if only incrementally. “I just wanted to wish you good luck before you left. This mission, as I’m sure you all know, is the first step in beating the First Order once and for all. No pressure,” She added, winking. “I’ll see you when you come back. If there’s any sign of trouble -- and I mean _trouble,_ as in Star Destroyer trouble -- radio us, then go to hyperspace and camp out on Naboo. There’s an old Republic outpost there that should still be operational. And most importantly,” She said, lips curving up into a warm smile, “May the Force be with you.”

Rey smiled. “May the Force be with you, General. We’ll let you know if we run into any trouble.” With that, she turned and began walking up the ramp into the _Falcon_ , where Finn met her.

Rose wasn’t really sure what to do, so she smiled at the General -- who was looking more and more like _Leia_ by the moment -- and said, “We won’t let you down.”

Leia nodded. “I know. Just be safe, Rose. Now, go,” She said gently. Rose smiled again before following Rey’s path up and into the ship.

Just like that, Poe was the only one left. When she fixed her gaze on him, he almost couldn’t bear how much warmth it held, along with something else. Part of him thought, just for a moment, that it might be love. “This shouldn’t take long. We’ll send in status updates when we can.” With that he turned to leave, but--

“Poe?” Her voice was quieter, but unwavering. As he turned back, he thought he saw a flash of pain flicker across her face. She had opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it when they made eye contact again. When she spoke again, her voice was as soft as he’d ever heard it. “Be safe. Please.” 

Not knowing how to explain the sudden lump in his throat, Poe nodded back at her. She turned, stepping away from the _Falcon_ to return to her office, and he felt a strange, resounding sense of loss as he saw her go. Taking a last look around the base and smelling the last fresh air he'd breathe for hours, he turned and walked up the ramp into the ship.


	2. the plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi again! i know this update comes soon after the last, but i wanted to make sure it didn't get buried in the may-the-fourth excitement. here, our story starts to take shape a little more. feedback is appreciated, as are comments and kudos! really, you'll make my day with even the simplest response. peace out

There was something about hyperspace Finn still wasn’t quite used to. 

Previous to joining up with the Resistance, he had only been in it a few times before. Well, more than that, really: he was in hyperspace on an almost daily basis on the _Finalizer_ , but there had been no windows where his bunk was, none on his work route, and barely any below the command deck, so there was no way to visualize it. From inside, it felt the same as any normal flight. 

Hyperspace brought back memories every time he entered it. Finn remembered his first time truly seeing it – he had been about seventeen, freshly graduated from the cadet training required before his first official posting, and when his unit was assigned to staff the _Finalizer_ , they had taken a ship (small, yes, but still larger than the _Falcon_ ) through a short run on a hyperspace lane. 

It was the first time he’d seen anything like it. One of the others in his unit, FN-2199 – _Nines_ , he remembered with a pang of guilt-ridden nostalgia – had joked that even behind the helmet you could tell he had stars in his eyes.

(Sometimes, Finn remembered a time before that, so hazy and inconsistent it might have just been a dream. It always feltreal, though – the blur of hyperspace in the window, the terrified aftermath of blaster fire, the remnants of anguished screams from the village still hanging in the air of the ship – maybe _too_ real. 

The dreams, when they came, usually left him lying awake in his bunk, fixating on a faceless woman with his eyes and trying to remember a name that had long since disappeared from his memory.)

Now, he was buckled into the cockpit of the _Falcon_ behind Poe while he and Rey slumped back against their seats. As they stretched, taking a well-deserved break after the early task of departure, he couldn’t help but stare. The light from it was just shy of blinding, but there was something about it, some alluring divinity, that captured his attention. Poe was illuminated by a blue-white halo, caught in the light with a grin, and it lit up his face in a way that made it impossible for Finn to look away. In the moment, all Finn wanted was to remember it forever.

“–Finn?” Poe was looking at him expectantly, and, judging by Rey’s raised eyebrow and the smirk on Rose’s face, Finn was getting the idea that he might have missed something. 

He blinked once, twice. “What? Sorry. I was, uh…”

Poe rolled his eyes, flicking a few switches on the dashboard. “Distracted? I had no idea.” That same blue-white halo hung on him, and Finn had to fight to focus on what he was saying. “I _asked_ if you had a plan for when we land on Sullust.”

“Yeah. Yes. A-a plan? Yes. Of course.” Silence lingered in the cockpit save for the engines’ _thrum_. “Yes. So–”

“ _Stars_ , Finn–” “I think,” Finn said pointedly, meeting Poe’s exasperated look dead on, “We should talk it over as-as a group. All of us have a different task in there, right? Rose is hacking the systems, Rey and I are– I don’t know, using the Force for something, and Poe–”

“–I’m coming in,” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as three pairs of eyes landed on him. “If First Order troops show their ugly mugs, I’m not looking to let ‘em go without a fight.”

Rey nodded, flicking a switch and fiddling with the coordinates. “I can live with that. The three of us can keep watch while Rose gets the intel. Poe, you’re the one that’s going to radio back to base, right?”

“ _Co_ -rrect.”

“So you should be in the room with Rose, then. That way, just in case anything…” She paused. “Well, even if something doesn’t go our way in there, the Resistance will have access to the information as soon as we do. If you’re in the _Falcon,_ that doesn’t work as well.”

Poe gave a thumbs-up.

Rose, who had been quiet so far, piped up. “It might take me some time to get through their systems, so if they _do_ show, we’ll probably need to barricade ourselves in the room,” She hesitated, looking at the rest of them. “Depending on the base’s layout, I mean… that could mean we end up trapped, and…” As her voice trailed off, Rose swallowed. “I just think it’s something we should prepare for.” 

It was quiet for a long time before Rey spoke. “You’re right. I think, if that happens, there’s not much we can do but fight until–”

“–until we can’t anymore,” Poe finished, looking Rose in the eye. “Listen, don’t worry about us. If we get intel out of this mission, it’ll be because of you, Tico. We’ll do what we have to do to keep you safe. Right?” He looked (a little pointedly) at Finn and Rey, who murmured an affirmative. 

Having been a squad commander for such a long time, Poe knew how important it was to protect the people around him. Normally, he admitted, that meant doing things like sniping the TIE fighter on their tail or coming up with a hyperspace route on the fly, but he wasn’t about to stop protecting his team just because they happened to be on solid ground. As the leader of this mission, he knew he had a responsibility to keep them all safe at all costs, and that was something he was more than prepared to do, even if it meant...

Poe cleared his throat, trying to dislodge the lump that he could feel was forming there. “Well, on the bright side, we now have a course of action for the absolute worst-case scenario. Say, does anyone have an idea about, oh, I don’t know, the _actual_ plan _?_ ”

It was a halfhearted attempt at levity, but it raised a few watery chuckles. Finn, grateful for the change in subject, _thwacked_ Poe’s chair lightly before thinking it over in earnest. “Really quick, let’s go over what we know about Sullust.” He held up a finger and began counting off. “One, we know it’s an Outer Rim planet. That means it won’t be as crowded, which should mean we get off easy in terms of civilian settlements and, fingers crossed, First Order.”

“Two,” Rey piped up from the front seat, flicking a few switches before leaning forward on her elbows, “The base we’re looking for was a weapons testing facility, meaning that unless the Empire _wanted_ to cause massive amounts of civilian casualties, it’s probably pretty far away from settlements.”

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Poe muttered. Clearing his throat, he picked up where Rey left off. “Three, the planet is _covered_ in molten rock, which will make landing a real pain in the ass.” He hummed for a moment. “Hang on,” He said, lifting a finger, “In the briefing, the General mentioned that that weapons facility was one of the Empire’s main ones, which means there were probably people in and out almost constantly. _That_ means it has to have–”

“–a landing dock.” Rose finished, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Considering the kind of people that had an interest in Imperial weapons, probably a big one, too.”

“Right. If we can land on the base itself, we eliminate having to interact too much with locals, we give ourselves an easy escape route, _and_ we don’t have to land on molten lava.” Poe sat back in his chair. An impressed chuckle escaped him. “Well, shit, guys. Don’t look now, but I think this thing is really coming together. Once we find the base, we are _golden_.” 

Rey’s head turned slowly to look at Poe. “You do… know where it is, right?”

In truth, Poe had just realized that he did _not_ know where the base was. It had just dawned on him that all the Resistance knew was that there _was_ a base on Sullust, not _where_ that base was. 

Shit. 

“If I say no, do you promise not to be mad– _ow!_ ” The last word was more surprise than actual pain from the smack to the shoulder Rey had leaned over to give him. 

“You got us to come with you on this mission without telling us that, _oh, right_ , you don’t know where it _is?_ ”

“Listen, I know as much as the Resistance knows, and it just so happens that in this case, that’s not… very much,” He said lamely. “All we know is that we picked up a transmission on its way to Sullust, but they don’t know where.”

Rose’s head snapped up suddenly. “They sent a transmission?”

Poe frowned in confusion. “Y-Yeah? Why?”

A smile began to spread across Rose’s face. “That means their communication systems just got pinged for the first time in decades.” Her hands flew up as she spoke. “The fact that the weapons base was Imperial means that its communication systems use a different frequency than current systems use, so the First Order would need to match it to radio there,” She said, speeding up with excitement. “Since that technology is so outdated now, all we have to do is scan for any trace of non-uniform frequencies on the planet and it’ll light up like a supernova!”

A slightly dumbstruck silence fell over the cockpit. Rey turned around fully in her seat to face Rose and said, “You’re an absolute genius. Of _course_. If we see where those frequencies were aimed, we’ll be taken right to the base.” One of her hands reached back from the controls of the ship and smacked Rose on the side of the leg excitedly. “We land on the base, set up in the main control room, and if First Order troops arrive, we’ll be able to spot them a light-year away with the nav systems in the base and the _Falcon._ ” 

Rose chalked her blush up to the excitement of the situation, and squeezed Rey’s hand where it sat, warm, against her leg. It was rougher than she expected, even on the back. 

Across from them, Finn leaned forward until he was just behind Poe. “How’s _that_ for a plan?” His voice was quiet, but warm in Poe’s ear, and the air from Finn’s pleased chuckle tickled a little.

Poe, who was suddenly unable to speak without his voice cracking, was grateful for Rey’s interruption. “Though, I suppose to _use_ the _Falcon_ we’ll need to have someone _in_ the _Falcon_ ,” She said, humming thoughtfully. “Since Poe and Rose are going to be inside, it’s going to have to be either Finn or I.”

Finn nodded. “I can do it.”

Poe felt his blood run cold. “I mean, you don’t have to–” 

“Right, so I’ll be in base with Poe and Rose, and Finn will be keeping an eye on radar from the ship. Sound good?”

When Rose and Finn had given their assent and the attention turned to him, Poe faltered for half a second before replying.

“Sounds like a plan,” He said. The smile he cracked didn’t reach his eyes.

From the moment the ship entered the atmosphere, Poe could feel the heat coming off of it. It wasn’t as dry as Jakku had been, but it wasn’t as sticky as D’Qar. What it _was_ , though, was _brutal_. As soon as he stepped down the ramp, blaster in hand and eyes darting around the long-abandoned landing dock, he felt it hit him in a kind of fiery wave he had never experienced. This was not the kind of heat that sent sweat rolling down your back in long, thick beads. This was heat that threatened to light your clothes on fire if you were out in it for too long. 

Now, Poe was no stranger to heat. Back when he still lived on Yavin 4, his parents–his _dad_ –used to joke that there were two seasons: hot and sticky. Whenever he would complain about the heat, Kes would patiently explain that humidity brought _life_ – it meant rain, it meant greenery, it meant bugs chirping in the summers and fruit growing in the trees beside their house. If a side effect of all that life was a few extra trips to the ‘fresher, it was a trade-off well worth making.

Despite himself, Poe grew to love it. When he first went to the Naval Academy on Hosnian Prime (back when there still _was_ a Hosnian Prime, he thought with a pang, before it had been destroyed by Starkiller Base), it was all he could focus on for weeks – he had actually _missed_ the sticky feeling he had always gotten from walking around outside, and had been amazed when he realized that walking from one end of the campus to the other didn’t require a towel and water bottle. 

Poe knew humidity well. What he _didn’t_ know was this – a burning feeling, one that pricked at his skin as if it were only moments away from crisping up. It didn’t make him sweat, though. He didn’t trust it.

Yet, other than the temperature, Poe didn’t see any immediate threats in the area. “All clear,” He shouted up the ramp, sliding his blaster back into its place at his leg. “I mean, I’m hoping the base has some climate controls, but I’m not seeing any First Order.” 

Rey breathed in the planet’s air deeply, scanning their surroundings with what Poe recognized as a well-practiced gaze. He guessed she was looking for the same things he was, running down a mental checklist of _hostiles, difficult_ _terrain, potential threats, points of interest_ as she ran a keen, sharpened eye over the planet’s surface. 

Even through all of their discussion of it, Rey still wasn’t expecting the surface to look the way it did. The base they were on was well-removed from where magma flowed freely, being built high on the side of a non-volcanic mountain, but over the railing all she could see was smoke, steam, and red-orange lava bubbling in pits and rivers. What little land she could see below them was blackened from a long lifetime of heat. 

It was her first time seeing lava– no, that wasn’t right. Starkiller Base, she remembered, was the first time, with its deep, fresh ravines and spouts of molten fire shooting up around her. Those memories brought a stirring of emotions along with them, reminding her of paralyzing fear and horror at seeing what had happened to Finn, followed by deep, white-hot anger at realizing (and, now, remembering) _who_ had inflicted them. Rey saw the way it hurt him, even now, years later. Time and training had helped, as had the pain meds he had taken for weeks afterward. But nothing could fix the way he flinched even now, years later, when someone mentioned Kylo Ren. 

Rey cleared her throat, shrugging. “Yeah, it’s a little warm for my taste.” She jerked her chin in the direction of what appeared to be a path branching off of the landing dock. “D’you reckon that leads to the base?” A raised eyebrow was the only warning she gave Poe before walking off toward it. 

As Rey got closer and closer to the thick steel railing that lined the edges of what she realized was actually a very narrow path – so much so that she figured they’d probably have to go single file – she felt something inside her shake just a little. She had been accustomed to the Force for long enough now that she could recognize its touch, but this was not a sensation she was familiar with. It wasn’t positive, she knew that much – and yet, there were threads of triumph woven among what felt like a bruise. 

She frowned, kneeling down before carefully laying a hand on the bridge’s surface and closing her eyes. Rey reached out with the Force, as if running fingers over the world around her to see what was there. 

Quite simply, it felt more and more like an open wound the closer she got to it. Trying to concentrate on where the Force was strongest, Rey saw visions, flashes of memories: Imperial troops scattering away from flame, parts of the mountainside blown to ash by a prototype, the _click_ of shiny black boots on the bridge accompanied by a labored, robotic exhale. Those memories were older, and their power had lessened.

At the corner of her mind, she could feel a newer one poking in. She couldn’t see this one as well, and the details were vague – she felt a deep, paralyzing fear, heard blaster shots and echoing screams, but beyond that, she couldn’t place any additional details. It made her uneasy.

Rey lifted her hand off the rail and opened her eyes. She stood, feeling suddenly out of sorts, and took a few steps away from the bridge to collect herself. 

Back at the _Falcon_ , Rose was stepping off the ship with her duffel bag, and Finn was standing, arms crossed, at the bottom of the ramp. One arm was tapping a quick, hurried beat on the other, and he was chewing at the inside of his mouth. “You’re sure you have everything you need in that thing?” He asked, deliberately slowing down his words. “Everything?”

Rose slung the strap over her torso, resting an arm on the bag now at her side. “For the last time, Finn, _yes_. Everything is in here.” 

“Good. Good, yeah. I figured you did, I just– I don’t know.” He swallowed. “Not gonna lie, it makes me a little nervous that I won’t be in there with you guys, so I just want to make sure everything is, y’know. In order.” 

Rose put a hand on his arm, smiling as she did, and said, “Yeah, I know. You know how to work the comms in the Falcon?”

Finn nodded mutely. 

“So you’ll be with us the whole time.” She squeezed his arm. “I’m going to go check on Rey and make sure everything is… I don’t know, _calm_ in the world of the Force.” She paused. “You see _anything_ out here–”

“–I tell you. Yeah, I get it. Go find out how the Force is.” As Rose walked away, Finn put on a brave face and tried to smile. He was, however, still tapping that rapid, uneven rhythm on his belt and had begun to chew the inside of his cheeks. 

Poe felt his heart twinge a little, and he stopped fiddling with his blaster for long enough to smile at Finn. “Come on, you know us. If I’m looking at the best pilot in the Resistance, a Jedi– _two_ Jedi-in-training, and a _damn_ good engineer against an abandoned base and the _chance_ of a few stray First Order troops, I’m taking those odds. But–” He faltered for a second. “If something goes wrong–”

“Huh-uh. No.”

“I–what?”

“Don’t _if-something-goes-wrong_ me.” Finn crossed his arms.

Poe stopped short, frowning in a mix of annoyance and confusion. “Wh– why not?”

“ _Because_ ,” Finn said, drawing it out, “Every time someone says _if something goes wrong_ , it goes wrong. Every time.” 

Poe rolled his eyes even as he felt his heart begin to speed up. “You watch too many holodramas.”

“Okay, well– listen, don’t risk it, okay?” Finn raised his eyebrows, which did nothing to hide the worry in them. “Just promise you’ll come back,” He said, shifting where he stood.

Poe felt the beginning of a lump growing in his throat. “Yeah. Um… I promise. We’ll come back, Finn. Always.” He swallowed hard, blinking rapidly. “Here, um… take this.” From his belt, Poe drew out a ring on a delicate silver chain. Its design was simple, composed of a sapphire in the shape of a star set into a sturdy silver band, but the craftsmanship was intricate and elegant. “Hold onto this for me?” His voice was small, and he cleared his throat. “For luck,” He added, and held it in front of him, offering it to Finn. 

Finn just stared. “Isn’t that… your mom’s ring?” Poe rarely talked about his parents, so there was a slight awe, a reverence to Finn’s tone as he spoke. “Poe, that’s– I mean, I don’t know if–”

“I do,” Poe said, plainly and without hesitation. The words hung between them for a moment, and before the tension could change his mind, Poe continued. “But, um, yeah, it is. My dad gave it to me when I left for the Academy, and… I don’t know. It’s like a good luck charm.” Finn was still staring at him. “I figured that… well, maybe you could use some extra luck,” He finished lamely. 

Finn still hadn’t said anything, so Poe opted for humor in a moment of desperation. “Plus, my parents were both Rebellion pilots, so I think they’d kill me if I brought my mom’s ring anywhere near an Imperial base.”

It earned a smile – a real one, not the brave one he had been putting on. Finn slowly reached out a hand and gingerly took the necklace from Poe. Their hands met for a brief second, and Poe felt Finn’s touch like a brand, flowing through him like fire and burning all the way down. 

_No._ Poe jerked his hand back a little _too_ fast, and missed the way Finn’s face fell. _No, I can’t do this, not now–_

“Thank you, Poe,” Finn said quietly. The words, though meaningful in their own right, held something else in them, something fragile that Poe didn’t have the words for. When his head snapped up, he saw Finn pointedly looking at the ramp of the ship. 

Poe looked away. “I, um… I should go.”

“Yeah. Probably should.” Finn was still looking at the ramp.

Poe had a sinking feeling in his chest. “I’ll open up a comm line once we’re in the base, alright?” His words were soft. 

Finn looked up briefly, nodding. The smile he wore was tight-lipped and didn’t reach his eyes. When he spoke, his voice had a nervousness to it Poe was all too familiar with. “If you don’t, I’m gonna come in there myself, Dameron.”

That drew a smile. Nodding once, Poe opened his mouth to speak, and for a second, the words he wanted to say caught in his throat, some formless jumble of _I-don’t-want-to-leave-you_ and _I-promise-I’ll-be-safe_ and one deep, terrifying one that he couldn’t put words to. It was that, the burning lump in his throat, the suddenly jagged beat of his racing heart, that’s what held him back. 

Poe closed his mouth. As he looked at the worry knitting across Finn’s brow, the look that he was so accustomed to and so very deeply taken with, he couldn’t help the bittersweet, sad smile that spread across his face. “I know.”

And squeezing Finn’s arm, feeling the warm, solid muscle beneath him, Poe walked away. He took a deep, only slightly shuddering breath, and made sure that he didn’t look back. He knew that if he _had_ looked back, if he had seen the way Finn’s face had fallen the second he turned away, he would have run back over to him and never left his side. So, walking towards the bridge Rey and Rose were standing in front of, he pushed those feelings down. Poe didn’t want to– _couldn’t_ deal with them right now, so he put on a fake smile and tried not to think about it. 

That ring was Shara’s, yes, but it wasn’t just _any_ ring. Kes had given that to him the night before he left, unshed tears shining amber in the firelight that lit the room, and had made him promise that, if he were to give it to another person, to give it to the person he trusted most. If he remembered correctly, the words Kes used were _the one your heart would beat in time with_. That was a little poetic for his taste, but he knew what the sentiment was. What Kes had meant was _love_ , and that was _way_ too much for Poe to think about right now. 

And he didn’t. Poe put on what he thought was a convincing smile and went to join the two distant figures standing at the bridge, praying to something greater than him that it would be alright in the end. 

A few moments prior, when Poe and Finn had become engrossed in conversation, Rose had started to make her way over to where Rey was standing, arms crossed, and staring at the path to the base. She was chewing the inside of her cheek. 

Rose wasn’t sure how to announce her presence (she had a sneaking suspicion Rey already knew she was there, but wasn’t convinced enough to rely on it), so she made sure the last five or so steps extra were loud in hopes that that would do it for her. “Hey. You’ve been here for a while, is everything... alright?” Rose trailed off, an odd hesitation overcoming her.

Rey’s eyes were narrowed, and if she heard Rose’s question, she didn’t show it. Her gaze was fixed on the path in front of her, boring two holes into the steel lattice floor. “Something doesn’t feel right about this place.”

“I mean…” Rose began, carefully, “It _was_ an Imperial testing facility. Probably a lot of powerful emotions here, and from… powerful people.”

Rey was still chewing at her cheek, and she shook her head almost reflexively. “Yeah, but it’s more than that.” She stilled for a moment before shaking her head again. This time, there was a hint of decisiveness in it. “Hopefully, it’s nothing, but…”

A sense of creeping dread began to set in. Rose cleared her throat. “But you’re thinking it probably isn’t.”

Rey nodded mutely. 

Here, Rose saw herself presented with two choices, and in a situation like this, miscommunication could be fatal. Her first option was to put on a brave face and act like nothing was wrong. She deliberated on that for a moment, forming the idea of a cheery statement to make in response. It never came to her (not in any meaningful way, anyway – she got as far as “don’t worry about it!” and decided she should quit while she was ahead), and she found herself staring at Door Number Two. 

In this case, that meant tentative and careful, proceeding gently in search of information. She didn’t know Rey as well as she did Finn, but she had seen enough of the other woman to understand that she wasn’t exactly one to voice emotions as readily. Paige was like that too, she remembered with a pang, always needing to be pushed just a _little_ farther than everyone else before she’d reveal what she actually thought. That tendency shifted after her time in the Resistance, true, but Rose had spent _years_ building up the requisite communication skills. Door Number Two it was, then.

Rose took a deep breath and shifted a little, taking a measured step closer. “Is it…” She faltered, turning the words over in her mind. “Do you think that feeling is related to the place itself or the circumstances surrounding it, or…” She trailed off, looking pointedly at Rey.

Rey was still fixated on the walkway, and didn’t notice. “It’s… some of both, I think,” She said, exhaling in frustration. “That’s what’s bothering me. Normally I can sort it out, but here…” She cocked her head to the side for a moment, as if listening to some far-off music. “...It’s like there’s something complicating it, some… _entity_ tangling it all up.

“And maybe it’s nothing,” She continued, exhaling sharply and looking at Rose for the first time since she’d come over, “But I just can’t shake this _feeling_ that something isn’t right.”

This was not news Rose liked to hear, which was why she was inclined to believe it. As a firm believer in following one’s instincts, she tended to put more stock into the feelings and gut reactions of others than the justifications they would come up with to ignore them. It was the reason she’d come to like Rey so much. As a Force user, she was innately bound to emotions present – even if all that remained was, in this case, a whisper from decades ago.

(Of course, there were other reasons she liked Rey, but Rose felt a strange, hovering kind of guilt every time she noticed how the sun sparkled in her eyes or the smooth movement of muscle in her arms and legs. Sometimes, when she found herself staring, Rey would catch her eye and grin, a lopsided one that made her head spin and–)

Rose exhaled sharply, pushing a hand through her hair. “So what do we do, then?” They had a mission, after all. Were they going to abandon it at the first sign of possible trouble?

As if she had read her mind – which wasn’t a power Jedi had, Rose reminded herself hastily, but it was uncanny nonetheless – Rey began to shake her head. “No. No, we can’t let a bad Force read get in the way of the Resistance getting this information. It just means we need to keep our guard–” Trailing off mid-sentence, her eyes flicked to something behind Rose.

Whipping around, Rose saw Poe approaching them. Smiling through the tears Rose saw pricking at his eyes, he said, “So, we ready to go?”

Rose shot a meaningful glance at Rey, who met it with the same grim expression. Across from them, Poe’s fake smile began to slide off his face, replaced by a swirling mix of worry and concern. 

Rey nodded, gaze lingering on Rose for another moment. “I think so. How’s Finn?”

“Fine.” His voice was clipped, overly neutral. “I gave him the other comms unit. We should have contact all the way into the base.” 

“So we’re all set, then. Shall we?” 

There was something about the situation that rubbed him the wrong way, he knew it. But it was abstract – it poked at the edges of his vision, making him chase movement that wasn’t there. There was no name for it other than dread. 

Poe took another glimpse at the _Falcon_ , memorizing the wires and panels of it, trying to cement it in his mind.“I have a bad feeling about this.” The words were muttered, so much so that he didn’t realize he’d spoken for a moment. Tearing his eyes away from the ship and the man who stood at the end of its ramp, he nodded to Rey. 

“Lead the way.”


	3. the hangar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> our heroes make their way to the base on sullust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys i know its been a million years since the last update but there's still more to come! also i watched every season of she-ra in like a week and im going to be uploading a catradora au for that in a few days so keep an eye out! 
> 
> also im graduating in like. 5 days which is pretty epic but irrelevant
> 
> anyway enjoy! again im on tumblr @brightbolts so drop a line if you feel so inclined

Half an hour of walking on bridges above lava pits made Poe more grateful by the second that the Resistance had picked D’Qar for a base location. Normally, Rey had explained, it would have been a much faster journey, but the main pathways must’ve worn away over time, and, well. Suffice it to say they had to find a bit of a roundabout way to the base. 

The rail pressing against his palm, rusting in some places and weathering in every other, was cool to the touch, which came as a surprise to him considering the heat. Then again, as the Empire’s former primary testing facility it’s possible that slightly better climate control was a perk. 

Poe looked up at the mountain to his side. Taking a more roundabout way, in this case, meant taking the scenic route, giving Poe an unparalleled look at the forests and grasses leading up the mountain. He had to give it credit: the planet was more beautiful than he expected it to be. Poe had been preparing himself for smog-filled skies, imposing formations of smooth obsidian, and the sinister bubbling of lava wherever he went. Up here, it wasn’t all that bad. He had expected the sunset to be red, but instead he saw a pale pink at the horizon. The forest was full of dark, blood-red trees, and they seemed to shine in the late sun.

The place where they walked was older, he reasoned. A memory flashed before him suddenly, and remembered his teacher, an older woman with greying hair and wrinkles at the sides of her eyes, telling the class about the way systems of life are formed. Poe was sure there were some scientific terms in there, but what had stuck with him even now, all these years later, was the hologram of flowing lava she had shown them.

He had been a little scared, at first, at something so powerful and destructive cutting through the land. But over time, his teacher explained, the rock beneath the lava cooled. As the years passed, moss and lichen wore it down. When those plants died, more took root above them, and so it went for centuries and centuries until there was a whole forest living and growing where the lava once flowed. 

Poe, being only about 9 or 10, had mostly forgotten about the specifics, but he had never forgotten the imagery behind it – an unstoppable, destructive force making way for growth and life. 

It seemed somehow fitting, though he couldn’t put a finger on why.

After a long descent, Rey (who had been leading them down the pathway and had navigated them to this point) held up a hand, slowing to a halt. Rose was next in line, and followed suit, her height allowing Poe a good look at the structure ahead of them.

Simply put, it was enormous. Not outwardly, though – in fact, looking at it head-on, the base would have seemed little more than a building of a few stories and a few large-looking hangars off to the side. What elevated it was the _rest_ of it. Built into the side of the cliff, overlooking a large plain of lava-filled craters and spurts, it extended down hundreds of feet. Poe couldn’t tell how deepit was (though he wouldn’t have been surprised if it extended to the other side of the mountain) and was thinking idly about how it had been constructed in the first place. 

The three of them gathered on the expanse of stone between the walkway and the entrance to the building. Rose, breaking from the group, approached the door, running a careful hand over the weathered metal. Discoloration flowered on it in orangish-red splotches, and her attempts to override the door’s opening mechanism were unsuccessful. Stars, she hated rust. 

Rose leaned her forehead against the door, closing her eyes, and was almost surprised that it was cool to the touch. _Wait a minute_. She drew her head back sharply and took a closer look at the door. Though it bore more than a few blaster marks, it seemed unbent. That could only mean– 

“Beskar steel,” she said, with more than a hint of reverence. “Hey, Rey, I don’t think your lightsaber’s gonna be able to cut through this stuff. In fact, I think–” Finally turning to face them, Rose didn’t see a hint of comprehension from either one. 

Jogging back over to them, Rose rolled her eyes. “Anyone hear what I said? No? Great.” Rey seemed to be… for lack of a better word, _elsewhere_ , and Poe was trying to sort through the muddled ocean of thoughts he was currently drowning in.

At the sound of her voice, Poe turned and blinked a few times, seeming to come back to reality. “Oh. Sorry, Rose, I was–” He trailed off lamely at the unblinking stare he received from Rose, who had crossed her arms, and decided it would be best to say as little as possible. “Right. Uh, what’d you say?”

“I _said_ ,” Rose huffed, “that on top of being made of _Beskar_ _steel_ –” She placed a heavy emphasis on the words, “–the door mechanism is rusted shut.” So it was, Poe noticed, looking at the reddish-brown that had taken over so much of the base. Time had not been kind to Sullust. The thought gave him some small satisfaction. 

“So Rey’s lightsaber won’t crack it. Alright.” He scratched the back of his neck for a moment, surveying the building in front of him with a practiced eye. “We’ll need to get in through another way.”

Just as the two began to strategize, Rey cast her mind out, looking for any entrances nearby. Instead, she felt a gentle press at her consciousness that seemed to pull towards something behind her. She felt it tug toward the hangar compound. Eyes still locked on the tall buildings in the distance, she interrupted their conversation. “I can feel something in the Force. I’m going to check it out.”

Behind her, Rose glanced nervously at Poe. “Want us to come with you?” 

“No,” Rey said, shaking her head a little. “No. It’s probably nothing.” She turned around and shot a reassuring smile towards Rose, reaching a hand out to rest on her arm. “I’ll be right back,” She said, and walked off in the direction of the hangars. 

Rose thought the words sounded more like a promise than she had expected, and could help neither the way her eyes followed Rey’s retreating figure nor the way dread flipped in her stomach at the sight. 

She heard a _thump_ and felt a dull pain in her shoulder as Poe smacked her gently, eyebrows raised high. A familiar cheeky smile grew on his face. It was the same one he adopted when Jess ‘just so happened’ to walk into the hangar immediately after Kaydel Ko Connix, and the same one he had bore while asking Snap why exactly he had spent the night in one of the technician’s rooms. Rose knew what was coming, but wasn’t quite fast enough to stop it. 

Poe leaned in, watching Rey leave next to her. “So… what was that? You know, as your commanding officer on this mission, I’m going to have to report this to–” 

Rose cut him off. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” She ground out, looking at him with what she hoped was a warning glare.

He narrowed his eyes. “Uh-huh. Right. Is that why you’ve been staring at her this whole trip like she hung the moon in the sky?” 

“Dameron, I _swear–_ ” 

“Hey, come on! Romance in the middle of a war is the oldest story out there! And who better,” He said, adopting a dramatic tone, “Than a Jedi, noble and brave, and a rational, steady, and slightly headstrong pilot-slash-technician to help keep them on course?”

It was Rose’s turn to narrow her eyes, and she turned to look at him. “Are you sure it’s Rey and I you’re describing?” She wasn’t blind, after all. She could see the way Poe and Finn hung on each other’s words, the way their touches lingered, and the way it broke them to be apart even for a moment. “Because, if I may be so bold, _Commander,_ it seems to apply a little better to another pairing I know.”

Poe’s cheeky smile vanished. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

“Come on, Poe. You do.”

“Not right now, I don’t,” He snapped. They stood in silence for a minute, and he closed his eyes. “Sorry. Sorry, that was–”

“No, I shouldn’t have said that. You’re right.” Rose looked at him, patting him on the shoulder. “We can talk about it later. For now,” She said, clearing her throat, “Let’s focus on our point of entry.”

Rey stood, arms crossed, away from the central area of the base. Now that she was able to look more closely around the campus that composed the base, she noticed three things.

One, the main building – well, she _assumed_ it was the main building, as it ran up to the side of the cliff and she figured visitor’s centers were usually less well-armored – was connected to the hangars. 

Two, the hangar doors were all closed – with the exception of one in the distance. 

Three, the door of said hangar wasn’t open all the way, and though a gap was visible, she couldn’t quite make out what was inside.

Then she saw it. Over that gap, a small light bulb hung, drawing her attention even more to the shadow inside and around it. Night was settling in fast around them, but the bulb’s brightness only seemed to grow as the daylight around them faded, pulsing with energy. As she looked at it, it began to gently sway above the entrance, as if to beckon her inside.

A sudden, cold knife of dread twisted in her stomach. 

Rey turned and, with a pace that surprised her, ran over to where Rose and Poe stood discussing possible entryways and skidded to a stop in front of them. Her heart was pounding in her chest, the dull _thud_ audible to her even now. 

Poe jumped a little in alarm as she doubled over, panting for breath. “Whoa. That was fast. Did you–” 

“Something about this isn’t right. I don’t know what it is, but I-” Rey, still bent over, gestured to the base surrounding them. “I know, I-I _know_ that there’s something _wrong_ with this place.” Her eyes darted between them. 

Poe shot a glance at Rose, who was beginning to match his frown, before looking back at Rey with an expression she recognized as caution. “Wait, wait, slow down. Is it– I’m confused, is it just in the Force, or at the base? Because if it’s only something left over in the Force, we’re... good, right?” 

“No– well, _yes_ , but it’s _more_ than just that–” Rey stopped abruptly, a mask of horror washing over her. She stood up, back ramrod straight. “Do you find it odd that the First Order sent a message directly to the base here? Instead of, I dunno, to a nearby ship? Why send a message all the way across the galaxy–” 

Rose interrupted, eyes widening. “–Unless they wanted someone to find out,” She finished, shifting her weight back where she stood, as though the revelation was powerful enough to move her physically. “Which means that–”

“–They knew we’d come.” Poe finished, bringing his hands up to hold the sides of his head. He began to pace back and forth. “Well, _great_. Congratulations, everyone, we have _officially_ reached the level of worst case scenario. I’m telling Finn,” He said, and began to reach for one of the compartments on his belt.

“Wait.” Rey closed her eyes, trying to corral her thoughts. “One thing at a time. We still need to get inside–” She stopped abruptly, feeling a wave of dread wash over her. “And… I think I might have found a way in.”

“Nope.” Poe crossed his arms. “Nope! Absolutely not.” He pointed at the light where it swayed gently over the gap in the hangar doors. “That’s bait.”

Rose nodded in agreement, shooting the others a nervous glance. “I’m with Dameron on this one. What do you think is in there?”

“I don’t know! All I know is there _has_ to be another way in. Whatever wants us to go in there…” Poe shivered a little, telling himself it was from the chill. “Well, I’m not exactly getting the feeling that it’s going to welcome us.” 

Rey piped up from next to Rose. “What choice do we have?” 

“Anything but this. _Literally_ anything but this.” 

“Poe, _come on–_ ” 

“Listen,” Rose said, preemptively interrupting the argument that was about to ensue, “The sun is already mostly down, and at this altitude, night will be _cold_. Poe, you know as well as I do that Imperial hangars usually connect to the main building to avoid exposure of troops.” He nodded reluctantly. “And Rey, if there’s any other way in you can see, now is the time to tell us.” 

Rey tilted her head to the side, closing her eyes and softening her expression. The wind blew past them, whistling gently as it did, and Rose saw Rey breathe it in deeply. A faint resonance sounded at the very edge of her perception, soft enough where she could just barely hear it. 

When Rey turned back to face them, face grim, the noise faded back into the wind. “Nothing.”

“That settles it. I’m telling Finn,” Poe said, already turning to retrieve the comms unit from his belt. He flicked the switch on the side, and a small green light came on at the front. “Hey, buddy,” He said, “it’s me. Listen, we’re at the base, but–”

Finn’s voice crackled faintly over the speaker, broken up by static. “ _Poe, it’s good to– nothing here– make it– base?”_

“Yeah, Finn, we made it–” 

“– _In– you there?”_

Poe frowned, smacking the side of the unit a few times. The green light went out after the first one, and flicking the switch did nothing to restore it to life.

Rose took it from him and turned it over in her hands before cursing under her breath. “It’s-”

“Dead. Shit. Not super surprising, considering it was held together by not much more ‘n electric tape and hope, but… _shit_.” Poe groaned loudly, dragging his hands down his face. “I cannot _believe_ we’re doing this.” 

With a heavy sigh, he pulled out his blaster and fiddled with it for a moment before holding it aloft. “Well, no time like the present, I guess. Let’s move.” Without another word, he began to stride confidently towards the hangar doors. 

Rose groaned, putting the comms unit in one of her pockets before pulling out her own blaster, and began to jog after Poe. For a split second, Rey was left behind in stunned silence. 

Seconds, when timed right, can feel as though they last a lifetime. Now, on this volcanic lava planet, as Rey watched Rose go headfirst into what they all knew could be certain death, something swelled within her. At first, she thought it was admiration – and, she reasoned, on some level, it was. Rose was one of the smartest people Rey had ever encountered, both emotionally and in terms of engineering. 

She always knew how to fix a situation, or, at the very least, to mitigate it. Sometimes, when she figured out a particularly hard engineering dilemma, she smiled this smug, lopsided grin that Rey couldn’t ever stop herself from staring at, and–

_Oh._

Well, that brought her to the other part of what she felt. As she watched Rose leave, her blaster in hand and a steely glint to her eye, Rey swore she could feel her heart tug toward her, and, well… that explained a lot. She tried to tell herself there was no time to deal with it now, to reason through every interaction they’d had recently where Rey had stared a _little_ too long at the way Rose’s laugh spread across her face, but thoughts tried to force their way, unbidden, into her mind. Pushing past them, there was one thing she was absolutely certain of.

No matter what they found in that hangar, Rey was going to make damn sure it didn’t touch Rose. 

The second ended as quickly as it began. Blue light surrounded her as Rey ignited her lightsaber, giving the fading night air a charge where it lay around her. Then, she began to follow her two comrades to where they entered under that swinging, beckoning light over the hangar’s entrance, trying in vain to ignore the dread sinking in her stomach.


End file.
